i i, the Independent is launching a new newspaper

On Radio 4's Media Show today Steve Hewlett discussed with Andrew Mullins, Peter Preston and Allen Briden the Independents new newspaper "i".

The newspaper costs 20p and is targeted at young people who are typically not interested in reading newspapers or those who do not have the time to read newspapers during the week. "Anything new which people are trying out in print at the moment deserves to be saluted...but I would rather pick up a copy of the Metro for free and hop on the train than que at a seperate stand and pay 20p" said Peter Preston.

 I personally agree with this. The Independent argues that i will be better written than free newspapers like the Metro. However, I wonder if those not used to reading newspapers or those who do not have the time are massively concerned about the quality of writing and content.

Although, Peter Preston says "the figures are better than I expected." So Perhaps the Independent will be the first to lead the way in making print more accessible to the masses and perhaps commuters will lay down their copies of The Metro and pick up an "i". 

With free online news sites being so easily accessible now via devices such as I Phones, however, I feel that the recent figures may reflect the publics interest in the novelty of buying a new newspaper rather than their interest in news itself. Surely we will always choose the free option over anything we have to pay for? "i" don't know if I'm entirely sold on this new newspaper.

Booooobies!

Via Dawn Porters blog I have found a charity's website which aims to inform and advise young women about the importance of checking your breasts for signs of breast cancer. The site's address is: http://www.coppafeel.org/

The woman who started up this charity found out that she had breast cancer at the age of 23, this really shocked me. I will fully admit that I am one of the many young woman who thought you didn't have to start checking your breasts until you were middle aged. 

A short video of Kris (founder of CoppaFeel) accepting her Pride of Britain award:

It's CoppaFeel day on the 29th of October...start feeling those boobies!

Fake me! Is that what you really look like?

"Fakeme" is the name of the company that has posted an advertisement through my door, they are a company who specialise in digitally altering photographs. I sit studying the piece of card: a highly professional looking publication with an image of a women in a bikini walking out of the sea on it. She has a curvy body with a bit of weight sitting on her hips and waist, and she has a tattoo on her hip. This image is on a kind of flap, when I fold back this flap an image of the same woman is underneath. Here she has a completely flat, toned stomach, no curves, and no tattoo.

"Everyone is faking it" the advertisement tells me, then asks: "Why aren't you?"

 Do all of us really want to ditch the bodies we were born with and exchange them for the toned ones we always see in the media? I would say yes. If we were asked which woman would we like to be: the one on the front of the flap or the edited image underneath, the majority of us would not hesitate in saying that we would much rather be the latter. However, this service can not transform you into this woman. It can, however, make others think that you are this woman.

Fakeme claims on this hand-out that the service they offer is "perfect for Facebook and On-line dating sites." This disturbs me slightly that there are many of us who see no harm in presenting photographs of ourselves, via the internet, that do not properly portray the way they look. Is this not false advertising?

Another service offered by the Fakeme team is the alteration of wedding photographs. On their website they say: "What could be a better finish to your precious Wedding Album than to give it the Fakeme treatment." Marriage is surely the ultimate gesture of acceptance and love. By marrying someone you are saying "I accept and love you, warts and all", at least this is what I believe. Therefore to edit and alter  this day and the moments between you and your life partner surely contradicts what the entire concept of weddings are about. The day I marry a man who wants photographs of me altered is the day I have married the wrong man.

I can't deny that sometimes I would like to change certain aspects of my body and that sometimes I do feel insecure about the way I look. Therefore, I cannot begin an attack on the nation under a false wonderment of why these photo editing services appeal to us so much. Fakeme evidently is successful otherwise they would not have the money to produce the glossy, professional looking leaflet which has arrived through my door. However, surely we need to reach a point where we realise an edited version of ourselves is not the real us, no matter how much we want it to be. Perhaps we should stop Fakeme-ing and start accepting.

   

No go Glasto

Here's a list of other exciting music festivals going on in and outside of the UK in 2011 for those of you who, like me, sat on the internet or hung on the phone for hours on Sunday waiting patiently to get your hands on tickets for Glastonbury 2011 and never did.

http://www.bestival.net

 Bestival, a festival which takes place on the Isle of Wight every September, and they do student rate tickets! Most famous for everyone attending in fancy dress.

http://lowlandstickets.co.uk/lowlands-event-information/

Lowlands, a festival which takes place in Holland in August, this is the link to the unofficial English site (the official one is in Dutch). Last year they had the likes of Massive Attack, The XX, Blink 182, Queens of the StoneAge and Placebo playing, as well as a whole host of other cool things like movie tents and street performers.

http://www.globalgathering.com/

Global Gathering, is a dance festival which originally began in the UK, it takes place on the last weekend of July in Stratford-upon-Avon. The festival has recently expanded to venues overseas, check the website for which countries Global Gathering will be at in 2011.

http://www.vintageatgoodwood.com/home.aspx

Vintage At GoodWood, is a festival which specialises in all that is vintage, from fashion to music. This new festival is held every year in the South Downs of Sussex, running from the 13th to the 15th of August.

http://www.latitudefestival.co.uk/home/index.aspx

Latitude, another fairly new festival which is held in Suffolk from the 15th to the 18th of July. There are multiple arenas, for not only showing musical acts but for poetry sessions and film screenings as well!

So there's a few of many cool festivals which will be taking place next year. And of course those of you who didn't get your Glasto ticket will know that if you really had your heart set on going there, tickets go on re-sale in April of next year.

Junip: José Gonzalez and friends

The Swedish singer/songwriter, most famous for his cover of The Knife's "Heartbeats" has rejoined the bandmates of his school years, creating Junip.
This is "Offpoint", a song off of their new album "Fields" which came out on September 13th. A folk type song brought to life with Jose's mystical voice, enjoy!